My Brother
by Musiclover109
Summary: AU after Avengers. Loki is living with Thor and the Avengers. All has been explained about Thanos and his innocence. But although all has been explained, it doesn't mean Loki is free from his dark clutches. A fact all of the Avengers know, when screams pierce their nights. How will Loki get rid of his nightmares, and how will the team help him? Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey! Ok, this is a story I wrote a LONG time ago, and I thought, why not share it! I know I have been gone off FanFiction for a LONG time too, and have no excuse. But anyway, I'm back!**

**You'll need a little background from before this story begins. Loki turned out good, not exactly original, I know, and came to live with his brother in the Avengers tower. He's been there for quite a while, but his past haunts him. **

**This story takes place about a year and a half after the chitauri attack. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognisable characters and whatnot. All credit goes to MARVEL; I am only borrowing them for my own pleasure and entertainment. I mean, if I did have a say in what happened with this universe, some things would've played out quite a bit differently ;)**

Chapter 1

Loki woke up to loud breathing in his ear, his hand fisted around a red and blue flannel pyjama shirt. A large arm was wrapped around his shoulder, his head pillowed on a chest. His normally gelled back black hair was going every which way, mixed up with his brother's similar blonde locks. Curled into his brother's side, thick tears began to fall as he recalled the night before hand. Squeezing his emerald eyes shut, he tried to forgo shaking. But closing his eyes just caused the images to flash back, as strong and vivid as the moment he lived through them. Thanos's red face approaching. Him lying on the ground burning in pain. Watching as Thanos gave him visions of everyone he knew being tortured; Odin, Frigga, Sif, the Warriors Three, and Thor. Oh Thor, that was the hardest to watch. Then there were the beatings. Loki forgot every idea of being silent and still so Thor could sleep, and sobs started to wrack through his body, his grip on his brother's shirt tightening, as if to make sure he was really there. He curled his body into a tighter ball, pulling his brother tighter. Thor woke with a start, and immediately sat up, pulling his brother with him. Lifting Loki into his lap, he started consoling him.

"Brother, it was only a dream. You are safe now, I have you."

Loki just put an arm around his brother's neck, and sobbed into his chest. This behaviour scared Thor; Loki usually pushed away any form of affection, and while during these nightmares he didn't push it away, even quietly enjoyed it, he never instigated it more than clutching his brother's sleeve, or burying his head into Thor.

"Brother?" Thor asked gently, "do you wish to talk of it?"

His only response was a violent shake of Loki's head as Loki pulled him closer. Another round of sobbing ripped through his little brother's body, and all Thor could do was hold him. Thor hated feeling so helpless. He had grown up with the strong desire to keep Loki safe, and he couldn't stop the worst of it all. He kissed Loki's raven coloured hair, and rocked him until he quieted. This also frightened Thor, as Loki usually calmed down quite quickly, once he realised he was safe in his brother's arms, but today he took over fifteen minutes of Thor's comforting.

After the violent sobbing had finally regressed to quiet whimpers, Thor tried again. "Brother?" Thor started softly, "would you like to tell me about it?"

Loki shook his head slightly, tears streaming down his pale cheeks.

"Ok Loki," Thor replied, "you don't have too."

Thor gently wiped Loki's tears away with a large thumb, and the brother's sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I-I can't…" Loki stuttered out, his first words since he woke up.

"Cannot what, brother?" Thor asked gently, shocked at his reserved brother volunteering information.

"I c-can't keep watching…" he broke off with a strangled cry and hid his face within his brother's shirt.

Thor pressed his hand into his brother's hair, holding Loki's head to his chest.

"Keep watching what, dear one?" Thor used the term of endearment that their mother, Frigga, called Loki as a desperate last ditch attempt to help his brother.

Loki wormed his hand inside his elder brother's shirt, feeling the scar he himself had inflicted, while he was under Thanos's spell. He couldn't remember doing it, not really. He knew that it was his favourite throwing blade, one form of combat he excelled in. He knew that Thor had been trying to convince him to come home, and he desperately wanted to, but Thanos wouldn't let him. And if he concentrated really hard, he could see flashes of the blade entering his brother, and the fiercely loyal but terribly sad look in Thor's eyes as he plunged it in. Once he'd even seen a flash of confusion cross his brother's handsome features as Thor took in Loki's normally bright green, now iridescent blue eyes. Thor misunderstood Loki's move thinking it was that giving him the nightmares. It was, but there was so much more.

"Brother, it's alright." Thor said, at a loss, "You didn't know what you were doing."

"I-it's not that that," Loki trailed off, hiccupping.

"Then what, brother? What is so troubling?" Thor asked, wishing he could do more to help his little brother.

"You…" Loki started, "I can't keep, keep watching you g-g-getting…"

Loki shook his head violently, and wrapped his arms around Thor's large frame, pulling him into a fierce hug, squeezing has hard as he could. It wasn't that hard, Thor noted. Looking down, Thor saw his little brother squeeze his eyes shut, and swallow hard.

"Thanos," Loki began, voice shaking slightly."

Thor furrowed his brow, but stayed silent, seeing Loki wasn't finished.

"Before, before it was too hard," Loki whispered, voice getting softer, "he tried to speed the process up."

"Oh, brother," Thor whispered, holding Loki ever closer.

"He beat me…" Loki's voice came from within the mass of blankets and Thor's arms. "I could deal with that. But-but I can't deal with it being done to you."

Loki rushed the end; feeling sobs building up in his chest. He burst into tears, clutching onto his brother like his life depended on it.

Thor was speechless. Loki's nightmares were about him?

"I could even handle Mother and F-father…" Loki continued, "Not you, not my brother."

Thor was hit with a powerful wave of emotion as he realised what Loki was saying. Loki never spoke of affection; the closest he came was an indignant 'I hate YOU!' followed by someone muttering something about the God of Lies. Thor knew Loki loved him, but hearing it, that he loved him before even their parents, that was something different.

"Loki," Thor stated firmly. "Brother, I wasn't beaten. I was on Asgard, mending the bridge."

"No!" Loki said, shaking his head. "I saw you. I-I heard you! Thanos… stop lying! You were there!"

"No brother, I wasn't," Thor repeated, heart still swelling with the knowledge of Loki's confession. It was breaking knowing what his little brother had gone through, but mending itself with Loki, even indirectly saying he loved Thor. His little brother had finally said it.

"You were, you were, you were…" Loki kept mumbling, like a chant.

"Loki, stop!" Thor commanded, making Loki flinch slightly. "Listen to me," he continued, more gently. "I wasn't there; I swear it on my honour. No, I swear it on my life, on everyone in this tower; Bruce, Tony, Steve Natasha, Clint, Pepper, Jane. I even swear it on Mother and Father's lives…"

Thor's voice got louder until he was practically yelling Pepper's name, before going back to a soft, nurturing tone mentioning their parents.

"Y-you do?" Loki asked hesitantly, voice wavering with emotion.

"Yes little one, I do," Thor whispered, running his hand repeatedly over Loki's ivory cheek.

"S-so Mother and Father weren't there?" Loki's question came softly, and incredulously.

"No," was his brother's soft reply.

"And the Warriors Three?" Loki questioned.

"No," Thor repeated.

"An-and what about Jane?" Loki's voice was completely broken by now, horse from all the sobbing and crying.

"Jane?" Thor asked, shocked.

Loki nodded meekly.

"No, she wasn't there, dear one. Why would Thanos use her against you, brother?"

If Thor was shocked with Loki's earlier comment, it was nothing compared to what he felt after the next words that came out of Loki's mouth.

"She loves you," he whispered, "You love her. Me seeing her hurting, I would know what affect it would have on you…" Loki broke off with a cough, trying to expel the horrid choked feeling one gets after crying for so long.

"Oh brother!" Thor exclaimed after a minute, still processing Loki's words. "Oh brother! I love you so much…"

With that he gathered his brother's somewhat lanky form up and all but squeezed the life out of him with the fierceness of his embrace.

After a minute or two, he gently laid his brother down and realised the heaviness of Loki's breathing. Looking over his Loki's peaceful sleeping form, Thor dragged the blankets over his brother, all evidence of his breakdown gone, save for the sun streaming through the window with Loki asleep, and the faint tracks of tears on Thor's little brother's alabaster cheeks.

Loki drew in a deeper breath, apparently not quite asleep yet, and whispered "I love you too" before letting the darkness of sleep take him

Thor gasped.

**AN: OK, so that was the first chapter! I am not happy with the name of this story, so if anyone has any suggestions, and I mean ANY suggestions, please PM me with them, or if you don't have an account, leave a review. **

**Alright, what did you think of that! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Did Loki just say he loved Thor? Thor's heart burst with love and joy at Loki's simply little four words. Suddenly his exhaustion of sleeping only a few hours over the past week was gone, replaced by an energy full of vigour. Gently stroking Loki's cheek, he got up from his place on the bed and quickly changed into some clothes; blue jeans, a maroon t-shirt and a blue button down shirt open over the top. He slowly made his way over to the door, looking back at Loki while turning the handle. His brother looked so small, so forlorn under the blankets, the dark circles under his eyes prominent. His chiselled cheekbones jutted out more sharply than usual, making him look malnourished. Thor couldn't resist, he crossed to the bed and lovingly swiped the hair out of Loki's face, kissing his brow. Thor watched as his brother rolled onto his side, curled up into a ball, relaxed again, and smiled slightly before turning away. Then he strode out of the room, quietly closing the door.

All eyes snapped to Thor as he entered the dining room, conversation falling silent.

"How is he?" Steve asked quietly, breaking the tense silence.

"He-he's not good. That was the worst. But he finally told me what they are about. I hope that will help him stop having them…"

Thor sat down heavily at the table, accepting a plate of bacon and eggs from Natasha.

"I'm sure it will," Bruce said gently, sensing the God of Thunder needed someone to tell him everything would be okay.

Thor smiled slightly.

"Where is Loki anyway; he usually doesn't leave your side until mid-afternoon…" Tony trailed off.

"He's sleeping," Thor said smiling.

"Finally!" Both Clint and Tony chorused, while everyone else breathed sighs of relief.

Thor smiled again; heart still swollen with happiness at Loki's half asleep murmur.

"What's up?" Clint asked, "You seem quite happy this morning."

"Oh, it is nothing," Thor exclaimed happily, "I have merely heard something I have been waiting to hear for a very long time."

He let his smile turn into a full blown grin, and dug into his breakfast.

After leaving Loki in his bedroom at 8:26 that morning, breakfast went by smoothly. And by smoothly it was meant that there were no food fights, sugar mysteriously in the salt shaker, no yelling, and no call from Director Fury about a national emergency. Honestly sometimes it was like living with mischievous toddlers, not superheros, Pepper thought.

However at nine, Loki still hadn't made an appearance. Thor managed to brush it off as Loki was sleeping, but when nine turned into ten he began to worry. Loki was generally a light sleeper, waking many times during the night, even without the horrors of the dreams that were plaguing him of late. Still, Thor held himself back, joining in on the card game Tony had persuaded everyone to play. Finally, when JARVIS announced it was eleven, much quieter than usual, no doubt because Loki was presumably still sleeping, Thor couldn't hold himself back. It was becoming increasingly obvious that his team mates were trying to calm him down, and keep him from worrying. However their antics, though well meant, were having the opposite effect on him, bringing to attention Loki's absence ant the reasons behind it. Burying his face in his hands, Thor grabbed his shoulder length blond hair and pulled. Hard. "I-I can't wait any longer," he said distractedly, "I have to check on him…"

Everyone nodded and Steve, ever the gentleman, squeezed his shoulder, Jane opting for a quick kiss on the cheek.

"He'll be fine," Bruce said quietly, "I'm sure it's just exhaustion, his body can't handle much more without sleep, medically speaking. That or he's concocting some prank he's going to pull."

"Mnm" was his only reply as Thor sped out of the room.

Quietly, Thor turned the handle of Loki's door, contrasting greatly to the noise he made in hurrying to the room. He peeked his head in, and seeing the room dark, walked quickly in, closing the door and shutting out the light. Thor padded lightly to the bed and crouched down in front of the pillow, reaching out with his hand, stroking a black lump that Thor placed as Loki's raven hair.

"Loki?" Thor whispered, "Brother, wake up."

After a short pause 'go away' was mumbled into the pillows.

Thor chuckled, glad that Loki was okay.

"No brother, come on, you can sleep later."

"I said go away…" Loki murmured, curling up into a ball around a pillow.

"Come on, Loki, you've got to get up," Thor said gently, picking his brother up and placing him in his lap, blankets and all.

"Tho-or!" Loki whined plaintively, undermined slightly by him curling into Thor's side. "Why-y!"

Thor cradled his brother closer, revelling in the affection that Loki never gave.

"Because brother, it is eleven am."

"I don't care!" Loki said indignantly.

"Loki, you are behaving like a child. Are you quite alright?"

"I'm fine," came a mumbled reply, Loki just having buried his head into the doona. "Jus' t-tired."

He broke off with a yawn.

"Alright Loki," Thor sighed resignedly, "You can sleep now."

"Mnm…" Loki mumbled, "Don't leave."

"I won't brother, not yet." Thor whispered, adjusting his hold on Loki so that he was in a relatively comfortable position.

Loki froze.

"Yet?" He whimpered.

Thor cringed internally at his mistake.

"I will never leave you, brother," Thor whispered, "That I swear on my life."

**AN: Grr. The aim for this one was to be longer, or at least as long as the first chapter. But I'd just watched a chick flick, and things, inevitably, got very mushy, very quickly. **

**Let me know where you want this story to go, PM or review, don't mind which. I don't have really many ideas as of yet apart from the half chapter that is teasingly already written, still trying to banish the gooeyness of this chapter from my mind. **


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